You know how sometimes you’ll have an idea that seems great, and you go out of your way to execute it well, and then when you look back on it later, you’re struck with a bit of horror as you try to figure out just what the hell you were thinking? I feel like this is a pretty familiar feeling for me. I also suspect that whoever put together this 1965 Rambler brochure may find this sensation familiar as well.
You can look through this and get the idea that the fundamental ideas behind each photoshoot and spread were just fine, well within the parameters of what defined a car brochure of the era, but then, somehow, things just kind of ended up off the rails.
A combination of art direction choices and the nature of color photography and just how our minds associate things all conspired to make some of these images more, well, loaded. Like the one I used for the top image, showing the full-immersion paint method Rambler was using:
Okay, not a bad idea, but something just changes when using red. I don’t know if it’s enculturation by endless horror movies, but is there anyone who sees this and doesn’t feel unsettled by what appears to be a car body dripping vast quantities of blood? Are we all just ruined by the Shining‘s elevator scene? It’s not just me, right?
This reminds me of how a friend of mine and I used to come up with terrible prom theme ideas, and one of those – Bloodbath? – was my favorite. It’s the “?” that makes it, I think.
The extensive use of red in this brochure feels like it may be part of the problem. I love red, deep vivid reds – I chose one as one of the main signature colors of this website – but it’s a color that must be handled with care and respect because of all of the cultural baggage it carries.
Maybe that’s why these otherwise normal-seeming car portraits feel a little off, because of the red hellscapes they all seem to be trapped in:
Red backgrounds, red light bathing faces, and that last one seemingly trapped in a balloonic nightmare, or perhaps the intestines of some Rambler-hungry leviathan! It’s a lot.
The ruddy hellscape is also host to the cover, which features the faces of Rambler’s three main car lines – Ambassador, Classic, and American, each with its own distinct typography. I like seeing these car faces; you get a good sense of how status is suggested by some basic elements, like headlights.
Even though they’re all just the same standard round sealed beams, there’s a hierarchy at play: single lamps are at the bottom, then dual, set next to one another on a horizontal plane, then the pinnacle: vertically-stacked dual lights. There are examples of this same hirearchy beyond Rambler, even, though some add an extra upper tier with covered lights.
Here’s another unfortunate color-related situation. This is just a nice little German-themed restaurant/bar – in fact, David and I like to go to a place with the same name, Red Lion, when I’m out in LA to drink beer and eat big sausages. But here, the photo is generally fine, except the decorative lighting behind those bushes sure makes them look like they are on fire.
I mean look at that image; maybe hold your phone arm’s length away and look, if you’re on a phone. If not stand up and take a step back or look up at your Jumbotron or whatever. Those bushes are burning. Rambler is getting all biblical on us here.
And while not exactly biblical, this spread with that fawn definitely has a… feeling. Why do they have this fawn in their Rambler wagon? Are they returning it to their mom? Taking it away? Those things get big, you know. I’ve seen The Yearling, I know how this shit goes down. Also, it just makes this all kind of feel like a pamphlet for a cult. If you know, you know.
There’s other stuff in here that’s a little less unhinged-feeling, but still worth contemplating. Like Rambler’s famous reclining seats that turn into beds: did people really make these so bed-like when they used them?
Also, I was curious about what those “free bed supports” were, so I found some on eBay:
Huh. I had no idea.
I also like seeing what was considered worthy of calling out in the technical side of a brochure. So many things we take for granted now, like alternators, oil filters, and fuel filters. Who calls out things like air cleaner life in car marketing today? Or chassis lubrication?
I do like when engine options are shown visually, in case you wanted to pick an engine by, say, pointing at the blue one. Also interesting are the multiple engines named after the Flying Scotsman, which was likely the most famous steam train at the time. I don’t think we still have a culturally significant train to reference today?
Top graphic image: Rambler
Christine said to Rambler, “Come on, It’s just a roof mounted harness. It’ll be fun. I promise!”
In addition to the paint color, the car is also stripped of its interior, headlights, windows, etc. Makes it look like it was flayed and now hung to bleed dry.
Anyone need a fresh side of car?
“You know how sometimes you’ll have an idea that seems great, and you go out of your way to execute it well, and then when you look back on it later, you’re struck with a bit of horror as you try to figure out just what the hell you were thinking?”
I’m pretty sure my parents had the same thought about how they raised me from roughly 1989-1995.
It’s fine. I figured it out. Everyone has an awkward phase.
While it doesn’t have the same cachet as “Flying Scotsman”, we do have the Acela and all that it connotes…
No, it’s definitely not just you. This is a Cold Start BLOODBATH!
Good point on the under hood picture. I think that modern cars mostly have the giant plastic engine covers, so there is not much need for under hood photos.
That first image feels like the Rambler is actually a T-1000 disguising itself as a car.
“Why do they have this fawn in their Rambler wagon? Are they returning it to their mom?”
It’s Bambi. Best not to mention mom.
Curious what the brochure says about “the full-immersion paint method”. My OEM career started in the mid-70s, and somewhere around that time we were using the full-immersion process (entire body submerged) on some vehicle lines for the bare metal body-in-white phosphate, deionized water, and primer application. A grey or ruddy brown primer color would not look good in the brochure, and not be consistent with the blood red theme.
Were not air pockets that formed in the process responsible for the Vega and Aspen/Volare rust crises?
I believe that’s true. While my responsibilities were not in the paint area when I worked in manufacturing, I know that the angle of the body at entry and exit of full-immersion, and the proper size and location of drain holes, was critical.
Why do I hear Meatloaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” on my mental stereo when I look at the photos with the red background?
Ain’t paint, rustproofing I’d wager. Go for a double dip, and deep enough to cover the top.
I wonder if the Soul Train ever had an engine named after it?
I can think of worse things to name an engine after than one of Sir Gresley’s finest. On the other, I can’t think of any photo that’d be much worse to sell a car than the topshot. That’s straight out of a horror B-Movie. “It came from Kenosha!”